Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/40

 place on the 11th of May. The "Fortune of the City" was consecrated by a pagan ceremony in which Praetextatus, a priest, and Sopater, a philosopher, played the principal parts; largess was distributed to the populace, and magnificent games were exhibited in the Hippodrome, where the Emperor presided, conspicuous with a costly diadem decked with pearls and precious stones, which he wore for the first time. On this occasion the celebration is said to have lasted forty days, and at the same time Constantine instituted the permanent "Encaenia," an annual commemoration, which he enjoined on succeeding emperors for the same date. A gilded statue of himself, bearing a figure of Anthusa in one hand, was to be conducted round the city in a chariot, escorted by a military guard, dressed in a definite attire, and carrying wax tapers in their hands. Finally, the procession was to make the circuit of the Hippodrome and, when it paused before the cathisma, the emperor was to descend from his throne and adore the effigy. We are further told that an astrologer named Valens was employed to draw the horoscope of the city, with the result that he predicted for it an existence of 696 years. or [Greek: kombaôn]). For the latter see Daremberg and Saglio, Dict. Antiq., sb. voc. They covered the toe and heel, leaving the instep bare to the ground.]*